AMAZING AND INTERESTING FACTS OF THE MAHABHARATA-NOT GENERALLY KNOWN

AMAZING AND INTERESTING FACTS OF THE MAHABHARATA-

NOT GENERALLY KNOWN

2.Venue of the War

The eighteen days’ battle is traditionally reported to have been fought in the vast plain of Kurukshetra, bounded by rivers Saraswati and Drishdavati, at a place called Samanta-panchaka during the transit period  between the Dwapara  and the Kali Yugas  ( Mbh.1.2.265 ). The war started after the rainy season was over ( Mbh V / 149 II). This place has been identified with Bhagwanpura considered particularly close to the supposed site of the battle where late Harappan settlements, dating  from 1400 BCE have been discovered.

The Imperial Gazetteer defines the circuit of Kurukshetra as 80 miles i.e.1300 sq. km in area, which is accepted as the extent of the battle ground.

 The Kuru king Dhritrashtra ,presided over his empire from the capital city of Hastinapur whereas the Mahabharata war was fought some distance away in the field of Kurukshetra.However, the exact location is  debatable on two counts viz. the availability of water and the accessibility to Hastinapur. As the Saraswati was already a dried up river, the huge armies had to be stationed at or near a big source of water. This could be the Yamuna only. Secondly, to reach the present place called Kurukshetra from Hastinapur involved crossing  the Yamuna, a big river of course.  There is no record of any bridge having been constructed over the river.. If there was no bridge and a river had to be crossed to reach the venue of the war, how could the fast speeding chariots, horses and the elephants of the warriors, run between the two places so smoothly and expeditiously.  In our opinion,therefore, the exact venue of the battle field seems to have been on the left bank of  the Yamuna opposite Hastinapur, which too was a part of  the Kuru lands- (Sanskrit: Kurukshetra).

Another feasible probability seems to emerge from the fact that the Kurus also had an alternative seat of power in Asandivat, a town close to Kurukshetra, to maintain effective control over their vast kingdom. It seems possible, therefore, that Kuru king had made Asandivat as his temporary headquarters during the period of war. The Imperial Gazetteer mentions that Archaeologists have discovered  a huge mound resembling a big drum with an elongated dome, which yielded 'Painted Grey Ware', early historic pottery, Kushana coins and bricks, Yaudheya coins and medieval relics. The mound whose remains are locally known as Jarasandha-ka-Kila, must have originally been a very gigantic structure as it still rises to a height of more than 25 metres. In that event the headquarters of  both the warring  parties which were temporarily set up, were easily approachable and then  the journeys made by the war heroes would have been restricted  only  between the temporary headquarters and the battlefield.

If we follow tradition and rely on the facts available, there  seems to be a possibility that the venue of the war could be between the present day towns of Kurukshetra and Pehowa where in the ancient times ,the Saraswati ,  flowing past Jyotisar, used to discharge forming a very big lake, the remnants of which are extant  even today.The river Markanda also discharged in this lake, and then traversing the existing Bibipur lake, turned into a big stream  proceeding down towards Cheeka before merging into the Ghaggar. It is a very big water body even now. which makes a circuit of not less than 15 kilometres  and it must have served the water needs of the armies at that time (to be continued)